This application relates to applying interpretations of chemical names.
A single chemical substance may have many chemical names (xe2x80x9csynonymsxe2x80x9d). For example, xe2x80x9cmethylene chloridexe2x80x9d is synonymous with xe2x80x9cdichloromethanexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cdichloro-methanexe2x80x9d.
Identifying synonyms for a chemical substance allows resources associated with one of the synonyms to be designated as belonging together with resources associated with another of the synonyms. For example, if it is known that the chemical substance known as methylene chloride has a particular reactive property, and xe2x80x9cdichloromethanexe2x80x9d is known to be a synonym of xe2x80x9cmethylene chloridexe2x80x9d, the reactive property is understood to be associated with the name xe2x80x9cdichloromethanexe2x80x9d as well as the name xe2x80x9cmethylene chloridexe2x80x9d.
When a database of chemical information is searched by chemical name for a chemical substance, information in the database about the chemical substance may be missed by the search if the information is associated only with a synonym of the chemical name. The incidence of such misses may be reduced by associating, in the database, chemical substances with respective sets of known synonyms. In such cases, a search under a chemical name has a better chance of turning up the same information that would result from a search under a synonym. However, since many chemical substances have a large number of chemically accurate synonyms, including typographical variations and variations arising from differences in nomenclature conventions, it is often very difficult and impractical to include all such synonyms in the database. Accordingly, significant pertinent information in the database may still be missed by a search under a chemical name.
Searching by formula instead can lead to erroneous results, since different substances may have the same formula. For example, xe2x80x9cC13H10Oxe2x80x9d is the formula for both benzophenone and 9-hydroxyfluorene.
An interpretation of a chemical name is used to identify a resource (e.g., information) pertaining to a substance identified by the chemical name, even if the chemical name is unfamiliar. Initially, a chemical name is acquired that identifies a chemical substance. Chemical structural information is derived from the chemical name. Based on the chemical structural information, a database entry or other resource is identified pertaining to the chemical substance. Thus, resources that are associated with a chemical substance can be identified highly reliably and with high accuracy, even in cases where the substance has many synonyms. In particular, information about the chemical substance can be found in a database even in cases where the database is searched under a chemical name that is not explicitly stored in the database. A database that is not filled with extensive lists of synonyms can yield search results comparable to results from a database that is replete with synonyms.